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Saturday, Nov. 8, 2003 - 11:27 a.m.

A night with Emmylou and Dave

�OK, now I need you to give me a standing ovation.�

That wasn�t Dave Matthews asking for a little more love. They way they do things in the land of TV (not to be confused with TV Land) is, you�re no doubt aware, different from the way they appear as you�re slumped on the couch with a beer and a bag of Doritos.

Fifteen minutes before the 8 p.m. taping of CMT�s (Country Music Television) Crossroads program last night featuring Emmylou Harris and Dave Matthews, the director came out on stage to say hello and ask a few things of us, the audience. Turns out they needed some standard crowd shots in the can as well, so he asked for applause, polite applause (�Just slightly more than a golf clap.�), laughter (�I just said something really funny.�), a collective chuckle (�I just said something that�s not that funny.�) and a standing ovation. After we filmed the standing ovation, in which we began clapping and rose to our feet in one motion, he also asked for clapping for a few moments, then a standing ovation. So we begin clapping, watching the director, awaiting the cue to rise, and the man in front of us jumps up seconds before everyone else. �I didn�t know he was going to give us a signal,� he said.

The director gave way to the executive producer, who gave us a little history about the show (it started two or three years ago, in New York, with Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello; most shows now are taped in Nashville, with a few in Los Angeles) and explained how this pairing came about.

�So many people, when we ask them to be on the show, say, �Can I be with Emmylou Harris, can I be with Emmylou Harris?�� he said. �We decided we�d better let Emmylou decide who she gets to play with, and guess who she picked? It was probably our shortest planning meeting ever.�

As the exec. prod. promised, Emmylou�s rhythm section was phenomenal, but Dave brought along the rest of the band � Tim Reynolds and Trey Anastasio on guitars. Trey � with a thick beard and long, bushy red hair, looked like a redheaded 80s Eric Clapton � got quite an ovation from the crowd. Seeing Emmylou Harris and Dave Matthews perform together in the intimate setting of the Manhattan Center�s Grand Ballroom for free was enough of a treat, but to hear this band come together was another example of what makes live music so special.

They opened with a bang on Dave�s solo debut single �Gravedigger� and then brought out one of my favorite songs, �My Antonia,� a track from Emmylou�s recent (though not most recent) album Red Dirt Girl. She used this opportunity to explain their friendship � they met about four years ago (they couldn�t remember the year, and later put out an open request to anyone in the audience who could remember) in a theater below the seventh-floor ballroom we were in last night for a Johnny Cash tribute, which I believe aired on USA or some other cable network. After that Emmylou wrote the song and needed �a male lead, you could say, since it�s sort of a two-person play.� She went to Dave. �I had to do it,� he said. �You�re kind of a hero � or heroine, I guess � of mine.�

Dave then tried to indulge us with �Some Devil,� but his voice, strained from the day�s rehersals, couldn�t get through it. He cracked on one of the high parts and just gave up, transitioning from singing to speaking and saying, �I just can�t do this one tonight.� We gave him an assuring applause and he made up for it by switching back to his acoustic guitar and playing a solo �Where Are You Going.�

Next Emmylou spoke about June Carter Cash�s death in May and how, shortly after that, �This song just came to me, as if it had been waiting in the atmosphere.� It was called �Strong Hand.�

The two then paired up again � partnering, rather than one just backing the other up, which they also did � on Dave�s riveting cover of Johnny Cash�s �Long Black Veil,� the song they performed together on the aforementioned Cash tribute.

After a question and answer session involving five pre-selected audience members, Emmylou sang �Here I Am,� with Dave providing a funky scatting undertone. Emmylou wanted to do that one twice because her long nails got tangled up in the guitar strings (in between she got a set of nail clippers from Trey and stepped offstage to trim them) and, as she said after the second take, �I just wanted to hear Dave�s scatting again.�

They finished with �The Maker,� a song written by another songwriter they both enjoy, Daniel Lanois and another new song from Dave�s solo album, �Save Me.�

After that, we gave them a true standing ovation as they walked off and we began gathering our things when the director came back out on stage. �Hold on one second, I think we may have one more for you. Dave�s asked Emmylou to play something.�

Dave came back out to explain he thought this was a beautiful song and it should be played more often now. Emmylou said some of the same things. She learned the song for an awards ceremony earlier this year.

Dave stood at the back of the stage, just barely within sight, as Emmylou stood alone in the spotlight playing a solo guitar rendition of �Imagine.�

Fantastic.

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